A Wish To Stop the Setting Sun (해를 잡아매야)

solo geomungo
(2013) 9′


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A Wish To Stop the Setting Sun

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Iksoo Heo (허익수), geomungo (거문고)

The piece was inspired by the verses of Park Illo (1561-1643), a Korean Confucian poet:

만균을 늘려내야 길게 길게 노흘 꼬아
구만리 장천에 가는 해를 잡아매야
북당의 학발양친을 더디 늙게 하리라

The piece opens with metal-like hammering and scraping sounds, an evocation of long bands of iron being wound together. This is followed by a series of episodes in which melodic lines gradually rise higher and higher, as if striving to reach into the heavens. Eventually the piece reaches a wild climax before tumbling back down once again.

A Wish to Stop the Setting Sun is dedicated to friend and collaborator Heo Iksoo, who has taken on new works for the geomungo with tremendous energy and dedication.

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